BioWare - DA3 in 2014 on new consoles?

November 30th, 2012, 10:07

Not surprisingly, the original link has disappeared so take this as rumour. Gamers Hell reports EA Shanghai designer Tao Gu claimed Dragon Age 3 has slipped to 2014 - according to his now-gone Linked In profile. Supposedly the game is being changed to next-next-gen consoles:

Tao Gu, a game designer at EA Shanghai has updated his LinkedIn profile saying that Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, has been delayed to 2014 and will arrive on next-gen platforms: "Scope of the DAIII has been chaged, which will target next gen platform and will be postpone to 2014."

When it comes out, I'll look at the player reviews and make a decision. Until then I find it difficult to care about Bioware product. I've got plenty to occupy my RPG gaming time in 2013 even if no new AAA RPGs come out that year, because my backlog is ginormous. (The fact that I let myself get sucked into playing the Assassin's Creed console games I'd avoided previously isn't helping.)

I work in marketing and I simply cannot understand the logic of delaying things for making a splash in a new console; the actual consoles have a huge installed costumer base already and you are likely to see at least 7 mil i sales for the new GTA5 because of that. Even if they announce the new consoles around CES and release on next years Xmas they wouldn't have a installed base of users of even 15 million by mid 2014…I can understand it for titles such as Fallout 4, which makes a lot of business sense but Bioware´s credibility is on the dumps right now and they think they could compete with Bethesdsa o the new consoles? not bloody likely

Given how limited in terms of technological scope Bioware games have been so far it seems unlikely they will be doing it for the hardware.

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I'd just like to interject here and point out that I'm not going to say anything to spoil the mood, Chief. I'll just float here and watch. Don't mind me, just sitting here, floating and watching, that's me.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
You work in marketing and you can't understand the concept of co-op advertising?

I understand the costumer base concept better baby; and it so simple it can be explained in terms you can understand.
If you have a installed costumer base of say 50 milion PS3 and 360, and you release your product for them in a now mainstream genre such as RPG or FPS you are bound to get a pretty good chuck of the market, maybe a 30% to 35%, so that means arround 20 milion copies sold.
If you release a new console (at least loking at $500 for one of those) where it a know fact that the people buying it buy at least 1 to 2 games to actualy play something too, then yeah you are looking at some great sell numbers…but only if you are an AAA title like Fallout 4, Metal Gear, Madden or Call of Duty. Hell I even bought my PS3 because MGS4 was an exclusive; that is the power of co-op advertising "Buy a PS3 if you want play MGS4"
Now…Dragon Age used to be a AAA title but despite good sales, the game was a critical failure for EA and it tarnished enough the Bioware brand as to have Mythic remove the Bioware title form their studio too, so they are not in a position of power.
This is not rocket science and for an example of a company benefiting of power of an instal base, its AAA franchise and the dearth of big time titles for next year, look no further than Rockstar with GTA5.
The will laugh all the way to the bank with 20 milion sales easy and in 3 more years when the next gen consoles have a somewhat decent costumer base they might release their next title.
You dont have to agree with any of that; it is not a matter of opinion, just simple fact…and if you think you know better than Rockstar then you belong in the Codex

Originally Posted by Carbon
I understand the costumer base concept better baby; and it so simple it can be explained in terms you can understand.
If you have a installed costumer base of say 50 milion PS3 and 360, and you release your product for them in a now mainstream genre such as RPG or FPS you are bound to get a pretty good chuck of the market, maybe a 30% to 35%, so that means arround 20 milion copies sold.
If you release a new console (at least loking at $500 for one of those) where it a know fact that the people buying it buy at least 1 to 2 games to actualy play something too, then yeah you are looking at some great sell numbers…but only if you are an AAA title like Fallout 4, Metal Gear, Madden or Call of Duty. Hell I even bought my PS3 because MGS4 was an exclusive; that is the power of co-op advertising "Buy a PS3 if you want play MGS4"
Now…Dragon Age used to be a AAA title but despite good sales, the game was a critical failure for EA and it tarnished enough the Bioware brand as to have Mythic remove the Bioware title form their studio too, so they are not in a position of power.
This is not rocket science and for an example of a company benefiting of power of an instal base, its AAA franchise and the dearth of big time titles for next year, look no further than Rockstar with GTA5.
The will laugh all the way to the bank with 20 milion sales easy and in 3 more years when the next gen consoles have a somewhat decent costumer base they might release their next title.
You dont have to agree with any of that; it is not a matter of opinion, just simple fact…and if you think you know better than Rockstar then you belong in the Codex

5-6 million units is a pretty big hit for Bioware, if you look at their past games, they have never released any huge blockbuster titles.

It's possible they might port the game to current gen consoles as well, but not if they want a piece of the marketing spend from the console manufacturers. New games drive console sales, not hardware specs. These manufacturers need a big line-up of next gen titles to persuade consumers to buy one.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Say what? I'm pretty sure they do pretty good on the technological scope.

I can't think of any of their games being technologically impressive or giving the impression that better hardware would have contributed to a significant degree.

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I'd just like to interject here and point out that I'm not going to say anything to spoil the mood, Chief. I'll just float here and watch. Don't mind me, just sitting here, floating and watching, that's me.

Guys Bioware is NOT Bethesda; nobody is giving the money upfront for exclusives. and how much cash would that be anyway? its not like Dragon Age is MGS4 or Halo and it is going to help them sell their systems.
Of the nextgen titles I think only games like God of War, Halo, Metal Gear, Zelda and maybe Uncharted have enough punch to have people buy a system just to play their game, much like Some of us did with FF7 or me buying a brand new system for Skyrim

I don't see how releasing a title on a new system is anything but good for Bioware. I'm now even more interested in seeing what this game is going to be like since it will likely be one of the first RPGs to come out for the next gen consoles. I think this was a good move by Bioware.

I think you might be a bit confused buddy; Bioware doesnt make decisions anymore EA does. And now that you mention it Bethesda games usualy have a development cycle of arround 4 years, so from a consumer stand point pitting Fallout 4 and Dragon Age 3 in 2014 is going to be a bit of an unfair fight and honestly after really liking Origins I dont have much hope for this franchise anymore